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We think we've created a monster, albeit a talented monster.As we said yesterday, we thought the response to ourfirst VeloNews.com photo contest was overwhelming, both quantitativelyand qualitatively, but our readers have outdone themselves again.Indeed, so many of you have submitted entries (hundreds of them!) that we've now been forced to put up a gallery each day this week in order to accommodate them all. Yesterday we posted what we thought would be thefirst of maybe three galleries, but as you might guess, that triggeredanother flood of submissions. So it's likely that

Van Hout goes at 8km

A lonely time for Van Hout...

The Mailbag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name and home town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.Lance talks the talk and walks the walkEditor:Come on, people, whether you like him or not, you have to realize talking trash and backing it up is what has made Lance Armstrong who he is today, way before cancer came along. Think back over the last few years: When Italy's Gilberto

Well you folks never cease to amaze us.We thought the response to lastweek's photo contest was overwhelming, both quantitatively andqualitatively, but our readers have outdone themselves againthis week. Indeed, so many of you have submitted entries, that we'vebeen forced to spread the wealth a bit and add a gallery a day for at leastthe next three days. As we post a host of images over the next few days,we'll be soliciting your opinions - and the opinions of our panel of volunteerjudges - as what your favorites and their favorites might be. On Thursday,we'll announce another

Tonkov delivers a win - and a message - at the 2004 Giro.

Hey, who wouldn't be happy?

McEwen emerges victorious

Bettini and his team car were in the pink today

The escape

Lopez de Munain suffered a horrific crash

McEwen in the maglia rosa

Some travel brochure, eh?

Barry and Vande Velde enjoy the stage

Since starting “Inside Cycling” a few months ago, I’ve written about dozens of people instrumental in expanding modern road cycling in North America. For many readers, those pioneers are just names on the paper (or screen, in this case). So I feel privileged that I’ve known nearly all of the people I’ve written about in this column, including those who live (or have lived) in my current hometown. Boulder, Colorado, as I hinted last week, has been one of the most influential places in expanding the sport this side of the Atlantic. Among the reasons for its influence — besides it being the

Bettini won by a very comfortable margin

Bettini e buonissimo!

Veneberg tries to go it alone

Dahle roars back to the fore

Premont couldn't hang

Spitz had a slow start, but finished third

Absalon profits from Hermida's bobble

Hermida settles for second in 'a really good race'

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San Baronto Detail

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Giro Images

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Climb 5 - Monte Urano

Lancaster snags the short prologue

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Efimkin wins

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Runner-up Tosatto

Test

A long sprint to third place for Petacchi

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Big Bird meets Super Mario

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The Mailbag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name and home town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.Armstrong has given hope to millionsEditor:I am writing in response to Mr. Ostermann's letter degrading Lance (See Wednesday’s Mailbag, “. . . but what’s with the trash talk?”). I must say, you are absolutely correct. Lance is a bully, and he is arrogant. He may even be cocky, as most

Raisin at this year's Tour de Langkawi

Voeckler takes the stage

Team TIAA-CREF is ecstatic to announce that it will be participating in the 2005 Route du Sud. After solid results in both the Tour of Normandie and the Tour de Georgia, the organization of the Route du Sud decided to invite The American based Continental team to the race who's former winners include Laurent Jalabert and Levi Leipheimer. This will be the major summer objective for Team TIAA-CREF, and will hopefully give a few of it's riders the opportunity to perform in front of ProTour teams looking for young talent. Former Route du Sud winner, and Team TIAA-CREF director Jonathan

Coming of success in Georgia, Danielson is ready for a support role at the Giro

Ribeiro at this season's team presentation

Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood: Playing catch-up, watching rock stars and answering questions

Tafi's a class act

Watch it jiggle

Stage finish and GC: Gilbert now leads Hushovd

While working on an upcoming profile on recent Dodge Tour de Georgia best young rider Trent Lowe, the young Aussie asked me, “Are you still doing your Web column, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood?” It was at that moment that I realized that it had indeed been quite a while since I’d put together a collection of ramblings for velonews.com and called it my own. (Note: Our Web editor has also been hitting me up with a consistent barrage of “What gives?” for quite some time now, so he has been holding up his end of the deal, heartless, unsympathetic tyrant that he is.) The answer to Lowe’s question

The Mailbag is a regular feature on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name and home town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.You just know they’re out thereDear VeloNews,It’s nice the see the number of Euro pro teams with U.S. riders asteam leaders or serious contenders these days. I’ve had fun cheeringfor the Lion King et al for the last couple of years, but it’s also greatto see Floyd and Bobby and Levi out

The results are in and we were, to say the least, a bit overwhelmed by the response to our first request for submissions to the VeloNews.com weekly photo contest. This week's winning photo is Wade Newell's "Racing above the clouds, Cape Epic, South Africa, 2005," a remarkable shot of cross-country mountain-bikeracers working their way across a high plateau in South Africa. No, itwasn't an easy decision, as you might guess from looking at the completegallery of submissions.Wade will receive a signed copy of Graham Watson's "Landscapesof Cycling," which, as you might recall,

World Anti-Doping Agency president Dick Pound has faulted both theInternational Olympic Committee and the official lab of the Athens Olympicsfor mistakes he says enabled Tyler Hamilton to keep his individual time trial gold medal despite “strong evidence” that American was guilty of blood doping at the Games."As far as I understand...[the lab director] blew it and also the IOC blew it," Pound said in an interview with Greek private radio station Skai, broadcast on Wednesday.Pound insists that the former Phonak cyclist tested positive for a blood transfusion in August after winning the Olympic

The Giro d'Italia could face a snag on the first day of the three-week race this Saturday if the trade union representing professional cyclists decides to retaliate against organizers' plans to cut prize money. Eighty-seven professional riders from the CPA (Professional Associated Cyclists) signed a demand for an increase in the minimum wage structure during an assembly two weeks ago at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. It now appears the union could be on a collision course with Giro organizers, RCS, who want to reduce the total pot of prize money on this year's race. The CPA issued a

Ekimov won't make the Tour start this year

Hushovd edges Casper in Marcq-en-Baroeul

Racing above the clouds, Cape Epic, South Africa, 2005

Tuesday's EuroFile: Exhausted Rebellin rules out Giro; Lotto's leaders from Oz; Casagrande bows out

...and warming up for Athens

Lining up for Athens....

Football? Basketball? Bike race? Who cares?

Home of the Bulldog...

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Real fans. Real racing. Real America,